June 18

Lake Toya - Lake Shikotsu


It really is a shame we couldn't have spent a rest day here.  A beautiful day in the neighbourhood, although a bit misty to start out.  It was warm to start (about 20C first thing), and got up into the 30s C during our morning climbs.  Sweat management.......  The first picture is from our room. The first 6km was very flat and along the lake.



Sam had made the decision that everyone would be shuttled by van from lunch at 37 to a drop-off location at 61 km.  Heavy traffic, uneven pavement, no shoulder, and dangerous tunnels were all considerations.  No argument here.  Of the 27 km from 10 to 37, 12.5 of them were considered by RWGPS to be parts of "climbs"; ugh.  We have 3 vans on the road and all can hold 4-5 passengers and bikes.  We have 28 riders and each return shuttle drive probably takes about an hour.  Do the math, and the riders at the tail-end might have to wait a while.  I got lucky and got ahead of a couple of packs that I'm usually behind, so I got a seat in the second van. I was at the lunch spot by about 10:30.  Not exactly starving yet, so it was a relatively quick lunch.  A few pics from the part of the ride before lunch.  





Lots of lupines the last couple of days.  Apparently Hokkaido is known for them.


We had about 16 km left to go after the van shuttle.  They certainly weren't difficult km, but neither were they particularly enjoyable.  On a busy road with lots of truck traffic (or beside it on a bumpy sidewalk), then a bit of gravel, and a few quiet roads at the end.  We caught glimpses of Lake Shikotsuko in places, which was nice.  But - I was glad to be done by about 12:30.  





To get off the main road at one point we were on an "unmaintained" road for a bit.  You need to keep your wits about you.


And - into the hotel by about 12:30.  Rooms weren't ready until 3, so time to wander the grounds a bit.  






And a nice national park visitor centre.








This is Mount Eniwa, site of the downhill skiing at the 1972 Sapporo Olympics.  




Back to the hotel to check-in and shower at the onsen.  Then out into the garden gazebo for pizza, snacks, and the jersey ceremony.  We each received our tour jersey presented by one of the crew.  Sam presented mine, and had some very kind words to say; much appreciated.  I suffered from imposter syndrome a lot during this trip and in the best way called me a badass.  Maybe I really wasn't in over my head.  Just on the slower end of the spectrum and I just have to get used to that.


After that we had a little game put together by Ine and Benjamin.  Trying to guess fun facts about everyone.  Then a slideshow put together by Arjuna.  And finally - dinner.  My eating habits are going to have to change when I get home!  

Tomorrow is about 50 km.  We'll box our bikes up and have a final dinner together before we all head our separate ways the following day.


Stats for the Day:

Garmin:  53.61 km.  2949 feet up.  2170 feet down.

RWGPS:  78.5 km.  1328 m up.  1120 m down.  

In this case the Garmin is much more accurate.  We shuttled 24 km in the van to avoid heavy traffic and unsafe tunnels.  The RWGPS doesn't recognize that I didn't ride it all on the bike.  Sure improved my average speed, though!



Lake Shikotsu

Lake Shikotsu is a pristine caldera lake within Hokkaido's Shikotsu-Toya National Park, renowned for its extreme depth (363m, 2nd deepest in Japan) and clear, deep-blue water.  Located near Sapporo, it is a year-round destination offering hiking, kayaking, and hot springs.  






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Image
Here I go again.  After taking last year off from big bike trips, I thought this one looked interesting.  A totally new part of the world for me.  A new (to me) company, although I know a few people who have been repeat guests with them.   The company is TDA Global Cycling.  It's a Canadian company but they do epic tours all over the world.  Their flagship ride is the Tour d'Afrique.  The trip I'm doing is called "Journey to the East", and is one of their easier trips.     We cycle the length of South Korea from north to south and then fly over to Japan to cycle south to north through that country.  Big miles and lots of climbing, although a few more rest/tourist days than I've had on some tours.  I'm looking forward to being able to experience some of the culture along the way.  I'm always a bit nervous about whether I've bitten off too much, but so far I always manage.  I think I've reached the point in life wh...
Read more

May 2 & 3

Woke up to a notification that my flight was delayed until 5:30 pm.  No problem - time for a long walk, laundry, and a few last minute things. Thanks to Ursula for the ride to the airport. I was there really early, as planned, and beat any rush. The check-in agent hadn’t processed a bike before but with a bit of help I think it got through ok. As the boarding is about to begin, the AirTag shows it in close proximity to the plane. I ate my fill in the lounge and probably don’t need to eat again until sometime tomorrow. Next up - nearly 12 hours on a plane - ugh!  Last I looked, the seat beside me was empty. Fingers crossed….. Once on the flight, they were clear to announce that the flight would be 11 hours and 59 minutes.  Maybe some different regulations are required for a 12 hours flight?  In any case, it was all good.  Well, except for the screaming child directly behind me.  Couldn't listen to audiobooks/podcasts for a few hours at the start of the fligh...
Read more

May 4

Image
Seoul Seoul (according to Wikipedia):  Seoul is the capital and largest city of South Korea.  The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon, emerged as the world's sixth largest metropolitan economy in 2022, behind New York, Tokyo, LA, Paris, and London, and hosts more than half of South Korea's population.  The population of the metropolitan area is over 25 million. Seoul's history traces back to 18 BC.  In the early 20th century, Seoul was occupied by the Empire of Japan.  The city was liberated by U.S. forces at the end of WWII.  The Korean War (1950-1953) brought fierce battles, with Seoul changing hands four times and leaving the city mostly in ruins.  One estimate of the extensive damage states that after the war at least 191,000 buildings, 55,000 houses, and 1,000 factories lay in ruins.  Nevertheless, the city has since undergone significant reconstruction and rapid urbanization.  After a numb...
Read more